30 Rogers Street, Hinds
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Leap Ahead Early Childhood Centre-Hinds is a privately owned service in rural South Canterbury. The service was previously known as Head Start Learning Centre Ltd. It has been re-licensed under new ownership since July 2019. The teaching team is newly established. The owner is supported by two centre managers, a head teacher, 4 qualified teachers and 2 unqualified staff working in two
age-based learning spaces.
Teachers engage in positive and meaningful interactions with children to enhance their learning. The services curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Its design and layout support a variety of learning opportunities and experiences for children. The outdoor areas are spacious providing physical challenges for the age and ability of children who attend. The philosophy reflects the service values and beliefs, these are enacted in practice and reflect the diversity of the community. There are suitable systems in place to govern and manage the service.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF30.
During the review ERO identified and discussed with service leaders the following key next steps to improve the curriculum:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
19 February 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Leap Ahead Early Childhood Centre-Hinds |
| Profile Number | 70121 |
| Location | Hinds |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
35 children, including up to 10 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
60 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 10, NZ European/Pākehā 38, Asian 6, Other ethnicities 6. |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
19 February 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review December 16; Education Review, August 2013. |
All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.
Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.
All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Headstart Early Learning Centre Ltd is a small, rural centre catering for children from birth to school age. There are separate areas for infants and toddlers aged up to 3 years and for children from 3 years to school age. Each area has its own well-resourced outdoor play space. Most of the staff, including the centre owner and manager, are qualified early childhood teachers.
Staffing is now stable after significant changes in 2015. The centre has all new staff, including a new centre manager. Centre ownership remains unchanged since the 2013 ERO review. Teachers are enthusiastic and the centre owner and manager are focused on establishing a new team culture and shared understandings of teaching and learning.
The centre's philosophy is well reflected in the daily learning opportunities provided for children. It accurately captures what the owner, manager and teachers value and prioritise as important in early childhood education and how they operate as a centre.
A recent extensive evaluation of the centre's philosophy by the manager, owner and previous staff, provides a good model and foundation for ongoing review with the new team.
The owner, manager and teachers ensure bicultural practice, including tikanga Māori and language, is strongly evident in the programme and centre practices. Managers make good use of teachers' skills to promote and sustain this focus. They are now planning a more formal review of how effectively they are promoting Māori children's success.
Children make choices and follow their own play ideas in a learning environment that is responsive to their interests. Routines provide them with good opportunities to develop their self-help skills and independence. Teachers interact with children in affirming and respectful ways.
Children's wellbeing and sense of belonging are well supported. The small group size and low ratios for the youngest children provide regular, sustained interactions between infants, toddlers and teachers and promote positive relationships.
Children's learning about environmental sustainability and the natural world is enhanced through regular opportunities to explore and use natural materials and resources within their play.
Teachers make good use of the local community to extend children's learning experiences, including helping children become familiar with the local school to support successful transitions.
The centre owner, manager and teachers value and promote effective partnerships with parents. They seek useful information from parents about their aspirations for children's learning. Parents have regular opportunities to provide feedback on aspects of service in a range of ways.
The diverse cultures of children and their families are responded to proactively. Teachers find out what is important to each family and support this within the programme. They make effective use of community resources to learn more about the cultures of children who attend their centre and to engage with families in their own languages.
Managers and teachers are responsive to and inclusive of children who require additional learning support. They work closely with their families and actively seek additional support, when necessary.
The owner, manager and teachers have recently made more effective use of internal evaluation to improve centre practices, promote team collaboration and support the development of shared understandings among staff. Their current evaluation practices include the use of professional reading to help them think more deeply about their teaching practices and give regular consideration to te ao Māori perspectives.
Managers have high expectations for teaching and learning. They know staff strengths and support staff to focus on continuing to improve teaching and learning practice. They are putting appropriate emphasis on the building of a collaborative team approach to support new teams and leaders.
The owner and centre managers have a clear vision for centre development. In collaboration with the teachers they have developed a useful strategic plan to guide future centre planning. This is regularly shared with parents. Leaders have identified areas for review to support centre improvement and are moving methodically towards implementing these in a well-considered manner.
With many teachers new to the centre and some staff in new leadership roles, ERO and the centre leaders agree the key next steps are to:
strengthen all teachers' capability to understand, contribute to and begin to lead internal evaluation
successfully embed newly-developed expectations for planning and assessment to ensure consistent practices and a shared team approach
strengthen staff appraisal processes to ensure that it is effectively contributing to high quality teaching and learning
continue to develop and support centre leadership roles.
Before the review, the staff and management of Headstart Early Learning Centre Ltd completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; hygiene; excursion policies and procedures)
suitable staffing (including qualification levels; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
The next ERO review of Headstart Early Learning Centre Ltd will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Te Waipounamu/Southern
20 December 2016
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
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Location |
Hinds, Mid Canterbury |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70121 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
35 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
64 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 34; Girls 30 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Filipino Other Ethnicities |
9 44 4 7 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2016 |
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Date of this report |
20 December 2016 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
August 2013 |
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Education Review |
July 2010 |
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ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.